James Anderson picks between Kohli and Sachin on tougher batter to bowl to

Cricket great, let alone from England, James Anderson had to choose between two batting giants – Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar, on who was tougher to bowl to, and he duly made a choice. Anderson, who played for over two decades and only retired from international cricket in 2024, has bowled enough to both batters to make a choice on whom he found challenging to get better off.

While his earlier days saw him troubling Sachin in Tests, once he closed in on his 30s, he peaked, and against him was Virat Kohli, whom he enjoyed dismissing in the red-ball format.

For the record, James Anderson is the third-highest wicket-taker in Tests (704) and just behind the spin wizards – Shane Warne (708) and Muttiah Muralitharan (800). And among those, he has had Sachin and Virat’s numbers plenty of times.

While Anderson holds a better head-to-head record against Tendulkar in Tests, dismissing him nine times in 350 balls bowled to the little master compared to dismissing Kohli seven times in 36 innings, he picked the modern-day great over Sachin for a batter he found difficulty bowling to.

Reflecting on his on-field battles (with some of the modern-day greats) while speaking on a TalkSport podcast, including choosing among the Fab-Four (Virat, Kane Williamson, Steve Smith and Joe Root), Anderson said, “I have found it more difficult to bowl to Kohli than even Sachin Tendulkar.”

Although both had mutual respect and admiration for each other, be it on or off the field, neither took the other lightly in any of the challenges across formats.

No Kohli on England tour

Like Anderson, who hung up his Test boots 22 years after making his debut, Virat Kohli announced his Test retirement days before the squad announcement for the upcoming England Tests, starting June 20 in Leeds.

After failing miserably on his maiden English tour in 2014 (scoring 134 runs in five matches), Kohli bounced back tremendously well on the next tour four years later, finishing as the highest run-getter (593 runs in 10 innings).

His battles with Anderson were the highlight, as despite England's pacer gaining an early advantage over him in that series, Kohli had the last laugh.

However, on his last English tour four years ago, Kohli struggled again against the seaming delivery, with Anderson having the better of him.

Meanwhile, the upcoming Test series is the first since 2012 to not include Anderson and Kohli.